In grade school there, we were taught that racism hurts both sides of the divide. Our teacher told us that the reason that the Junior high school did not have a pool was that the people of the town did not want whites and blacks to swim together and so they changed the design to leave out the pool, so we all missed out today. We were taught to take pride in the town's participation in the underground railroad. Despite that, the system seemed to practice discrimination when I was there.
Elementary schools are in each neighborhood. When I went to a school for half a year that a larger percentage of black students than the percentage of blacks in the town. I was shocked to discover that the library lacked a librarian, when the other Quincy schools I had been to had at least one, and often an assistant. The books were mostly shelved under 'T' for "the". All of the books were old, and the library itself seemed dark and in shambles.
Another difference at this school was that far less was explained to the students, and the schedule seemed almost punitive; we were given 15 minutes to eat lunch as opposed to 30 at other schools. Lunch cost the same as other schools I had been to, but the quality was much poorer. Greenish peanut butter and brown corn.
In Junior High, they had tracks. Smart kids, Rich kids, poor kids, stupid/disabled kids. The tracks were called teams and labeled with letters, but everyone knew what they were for. I don't know who set up the tracking system, but its purpose seemed to be to unlevel the playing field.